All trademarks are designated by (R) and are the property(ies) of their respective owners. All copyrights not belonging to authors are denoted by (c) and are the properties of their respective owners. This manual (c)1992 Neil Brockman. Comments, however, may be added by subsequent users of the DDP program so long as those modifications are clearly marked and identified as the users'. Comments made by Neil Brockman may NOT be removed. WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMIPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE LIABILITY FOR THE SELECTION AND USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND MANUAL, AND OWNER SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, MALFUNCTIONS, DEFECTS OR LOSS OF DATA RESULTING FROM OR RELATED TO THE USE OF SOFTWARE AND/OR MANUAL. AUTHOR(S) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR MANUAL, EVEN IF OWNER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 7-20-93 @2:30 a.m. DDP does NOT acknowledge 2.88 Mg drives as valid drives. This is a free program, so if there is sufficient demand, I will add that feature. If not.... PURPOSE OF PROGRAM Disk Duplicator Plus is designed to be a better disk duplicator than DOS(R) Diskcopy(c) (not hard) and a better formatter than both DOS(R) Format(c) and commercial formatting programs like those provided in NORTON UTILITIES(R) and PCTOOLS(R). Whether or not it meets these goals is decided by the individual user. Design criteria considered in the development of the program were: (Disk Duplicating) 1) Copy the contents of any diskette to any other diskette capable of holding the contents of the original diskette. 2) Optimize formatting of diskette copies to allow them to function more efficiently than normally formatted diskettes 3) Allow multiple copies of a diskette to be made after reading the contents of the original diskette only once 4) Automatically determine if a source disk is suitably formatted to use as a copy and reformat to proper specifications if it isn't 5) Read entire Source diskettes in one pass without regard to Source size 6) Write entire Target diskettes in one pass without regard to Target size 7) Do not make copies of copy-protected diskettes ( Formatting) 1) Allow formatting of diskettes to any standard size 2) Optionally format diskettes to larger than standard DOS diskette sizes 3) Allow total control over diskette formatting specifications including: Media Byte, Heads, Tracks, Sectors/Cluster, etc. 4) Provide a list of prewritten formatting options accessible by name from a list. The contents of the list must be totally under the control of the user, including the "name" of options. The number of items in the list is to be limited only by available memory. 4) Provide improved BOOT SECTOR which allows non-bootable diskettes left in drive "A:" to allow the machine to boot anyway. You'll like this one. (General) 1) All features of the program must be accessible by either keyboard operations or a Logitech or Microsoft or compatible mouse. 2) All exe files callable from any directory or drive on the computer (when properly installed) 3) Both the formatting program (FDFORMAT.EXE(c)) and duplicating program (WIMAGE.EXE(c)) must operate closely to the way their creator originally intended. Both programs must also be seperately callable from the commandline. 4) All features must be accessed efficiently and the overall result must be to: a) reduce the difficulty of the DOS commandline interface and b) relative time spent performing tasks. 5) DDP must enhance, not hamper the abilities of the power user and the novice. A Note about FREEWARE and SHAREWARE Much of today's best software is available as "Freeware" and "Shareware". The production of this program relied HEAVILY on freeware and shareware products. If you use shareware regularly, register it. The small purchase price will usually be recouped in a very short time. By registering your shareware products, you will be insuring the continuation of the shareware marketing industry. This program is provided as freeware. You are free to use it as much as you wish. You may also give it to anyone you choose. You may NOT sell the program or its accompanying documentation. You MAY charge a reasonable fee (not to exceed $10.00) for the diskette on which this program is provided. Using Disk Duplicator Plus (DDP) Since this is a free program, and since I have tried to make the program as simple as possible to use, documentation is sparse. If you want to learn how to use DDP, then experiment. You will probably learn what you want to know faster than by reading the manual anyway. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS: 1) MS-DOS 3.20 or higher 2) 384k RAM (512k recommended) 3) A hard disk with free space equal to the capacity of your largest diskette plus 110k 4) At least one floppy drive 5) A mouse is not required but is highly recommended. PROGRAM HISTORY: 1990 : Chris H. writes and releases source for FDREAD.EXE, WIMAGE.EXE and FDFORMAT.EXE 12-23-92 : I (Neil Brockman) rewrote WIMAGE.EXE & FDFORMAT.EXE to add a more attractive interface. Also added DDP.EXE to control operation of WIMAGE.EXE & FDFORMAT.EXE and enhance performance of programs while eliminating commandline interface. 12-29-92 : Improved memory management considerably; fixed harmless screenwriting bug when reading less than 10 cylinders in WIMAGE.EXE 1-10-93 : Fixed other harmless 'bugs' which occurred when errors were encountered during duplication. These bugs were an annoyance only. Improved memory management even more. Users can expect the duplication buffer over 500K (500 * 1024 bytes). 7-19-93 : Removed overlays because too many people still don't understand how to install EMS or a software cache. Also added optional forced formatting feature to the Duplication section of the program (DDP). INSTALLING THE DDP PROGRAM: 1) Copy all program files into the SAME directory on your hard drive. (Note: Steps 2,3 & 4 all take place in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and are OPTIONAL if the DDP.EXE program is RUN FROM THE DIRECTORY TO WHICH IT WAS INSTALLED.) 2) Add FDREAD.EXE to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Do NOT load it into HIGH memory! (* It does so automatically *) (Note: Advanced users can add the program to their CONFIG.SYS files using DEVICE = ) 3) Add the line SET DDP=D:\DIRECTORY\ where "D:" is the drive on which the program files reside and "\DIRECTORY\" is the absolute path where the program files reside. (I know that sounded redundant but I'm in a hurry.) For Example: Set DDP =C:\DDP\ 4) Add the ABSOLUTE path of the DDP program files to your AUTOEXEC.BAT PATH statement. For Example: path=c:\dos;c:\ddp; 5) Reboot your computer so that all changes made to the AUTOEXEC.BAT (and optionally CONFIG.SYS) files are set into motion. STARTING THE DDP PROGRAM: AFTER installation, type "DDP" from any system prompt. FORMATTING DISKS: My wife and I put a lot of thought into designing the input screen for this one. Instead of choosing individual options (of which there are MANY) as well as selecting the drive to format, we chose to let the user create his OWN database of formatting option combinations, with each combination being represented by a NAME which MEANS SOMETHING to the USER. These options are stored in the ASCII file OPTIONS.LST. This file can be edited and changed with any text editor. Options CANNOT be changed from within the DDP program (I have thought of adding this. Write me if you want it or call 502-782-3561 & leave e-mail). A sample file (which includes all of the options most users will ever need) is included as an example. A sample line of the OPTIONS.LST might be: Work Disk B: * B: /f1.44 /k /z Where: Work Disk B: = Name of Option * = Delimiter B: = Drive to format (* optional. This overrides the drive- selection field. *) and you will understand. *) /f1.44 = Size to format disk /k = Do not prompt for disk /z = Stop after one disk (Note: a detailed list of options is given in the file FDFORMAT.DOC. The "Z" option is new. It means to stop automatically after one disk and return to the Main Menu.) The number of formatting options is limited only by your imagination and available memory. (Note: There are some formats which can be accomplished by DDP which I do not recommend. In particular, I do not recommend formatting 3.5" diskettes beyond 1.44 megabytes. They do not check out well with diagnostic programs like Nortons Disk Doctor II(C).) As I mentioned earlier in the program objectives, it is possible (and very easy) to get extra space out of most of your diskettes. You can, for instance, get 410k out of a DD 5.25" diskette or 800k out of a DD 3.5". For example: Adding the line: Maxed Out 5.25" DD B: * B: /f410 to your OPTIONS.LST file would allow you to format a DD diskette in B: to 410k when you select option "Maxed Out 5.25" DD B: ". Certain unorthodox formats will require the presence of FDREAD.EXE (another goodie from Chris H.) in order to be recognized by your computer. A duplicate of the chart given in FDFORMAT.DOC is given below: F-Opt Format 360k-Drive 720k-Drive 1.2M-Drive 1.44M-Drive ----- --------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------- F160 160 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD F180 180 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD F200 200 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F205 205 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F320 320 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD F360 360 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD F400 400 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F410 410 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F720 720 kByte Disk no yes FDREAD yes F800 800 kByte Disk no FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F820 820 kByte Disk no FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD F120 1.2 MByte Disk no no yes yes F12 1.2 MByte Disk no no yes yes F144 1.44 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes F14 1.44 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes F148 1.48 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes F16 1.6 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD F164 1.64 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD F168 1.68 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD F172 1.72 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD FDREAD in the above table means, that this format will work only, if FDREAD is installed. READ ME!!! READ ME!! READ ME!! READ ME!! READ ME!! READ ME!! Note: If you intend to distribute your diskettes to other computer users who do not have FDREAD.EXE installed on their computers, stick to STANDARD formats. DUPLICATING DISKETTES: DDP duplicates diskettes by creating an image backup on your hard disk (once) and then writing it to as many copies as you desire. If the TARGET diskette is incompatible with the format of the SOURCE, the TARGET diskette is reformatted to the specifications of the SOURCE diskette. Beginning with version 1.2, users can force the automatic formatting of all TARGET diskettes by checking the appropriate box in the Duplication input screen. Using this option on new diskettes results in a typical savings of about 20 seconds for each copy. It can slow you down considerably when you use used diskettes. This is because DDP can detect a properly formatted diskette and use it without reformatting (in its default mode). Any information on the previously formatted diskette will be overwritten. Unless you are using unformatted diskettes, I recommend using the default settings. Both options will work properly in all situations. The only difference is time. All incompatible diskettes with a capacity above 320k are reformatted using sector sliding (see FDFORMAT.DOC) which can cut access times by half. It is therefore often the case that your diskette copies will be BETTER than your ORIGINALS. To determine compatible format, DDP checks for: 1) Heads 2) Root Directory Entries 3) Sectors per Cluster 4) Sectors per Track 5) Total Sectors 6) Media Descriptor (Note: It may be possible that if your diskette formatting requirements are unusually strenuous, you may need to call the FDFORMAT.EXE and WIMAGE.EXE programs from the commandline by yourself. This will NOT be necessary for most users.) When DDP reformats a diskette using sector sliding, it uses the table provided in FDFORMAT.DOC to determine specifications. The rules for duplicating disks are simple: if the TARGET diskette has the capacity to hold your SOURCE, and your drive will format and read it accordingly, DDP will duplicate it. Otherwise, it won't. DDP prompts the user for input only when necessary. All input windows are as self-explanatory as possible. The method DDP uses for detecting an unsuitably formatted disk does not contain an error message for an unformatted disk. The DDP program assumes that if a disk is to be a TARGET and the (internal) error message reports either "SECTOR NOT FOUND" or "GENERAL FAILURE" then the diskette is either faulty or blank. DDP will then try to reformat the TARGET. If your diskettes report any other error when unformatted, they will have to be formatted with the formatting section of DDP before using. 7-20-93 OR they can use the new forced formatting option in the Duplication input screen! (author) Addresses of authors: (DDP) Neil Brockman General Delivery Casey Creek, Ky 42723 (Note: Please write if you have suggestions regarding DDP. If you leave a phone number, I will probably call instead of writing. To leave electronic mail, please call DaBizness at (502) 782-3561.) (Note: Chris H. published the source of FDREAD, FDFORMAT and WIMAGE two years ago. I modified the source to produce the versions used with DDP.EXE. Chris H. gets the credit for all the hard work, though.) Neil Brockman 12-23-92 (FDREAD, FDFORMAT and WIMAGE) Christoph H. Hochst„tter Carl-Strehl-Strasse 20 D-3550 Marburg West-Germany Phone: +49 6421 14618 (voice/BTX) +49 6429 6209 (BBS) E-Mail: HAMPE2@DMRHRZ11.BITNET (Bitnet/Internet) Christoph Hochstaetter on 2:243/22 (Fido) (Toolkit providing all screen I/O and mouse support) Technojock Software, Inc. PO Box 820927 Houston, TX 77282-0927 (Note: This toolkit must be ordered by calling the Public Software Library at 1-800-2424-psl. It is shareware and can therefore be evaluated before purchase.)